69 Minutes of Brand Management: Cummins Defends the Crown

Pat Cummins walked into Cricket NSW headquarters in Sydney on Friday morning, did 69 minutes in front of close to one hundred journalists, photographers, camera operators and cricket officials, and walked out. The occasion: a fight over what happened in the Australian dressing room in 2018, eight years ago, during the Sandpapergate scandal. The man at the center of it is the national captain, and his institution wanted this contained.

Who Has the Power

Cummins arrived with a pre-prepared statement typed out as notes on sheets of paper. He'd spent considerable time working out what to say with his wife, Becky, and his manager, Neil Maxwell. He was told to wear a Cricket Australia polo shirt. Breakfast television cameras were parked outside at first light, so he was ushered in through a back entrance, away from the lenses. The press conference itself, announced by Cummins on his own social media accounts on Thursday rather than through Cricket Australia's usual channels, started at 9.30am in the indoor nets area.

None of this is accidental. A captain's integrity is an asset, and assets get managed. Usman Khawaja's new book, Sabr, put claims on the table that first surfaced in the Sydney Morning Herald last Saturday. Cummins had been pressured to respond ever since.

Who Gets Crushed

While the principals traded accounts, the people who actually play the game got shoved to the margins. Sam Konstas scored 173 for NSW in a Sheffield Shield match, less than a month before Australia's first Test of the summer. Cricket NSW pulled him from media duties on Thursday after he reached triple figures. On Friday, after play, Konstas said: "It was a bit hectic. Obviously there was a lot of media today with Pat. We've got a massive job to do [in this game]." Asked if he'd managed to get a car park that morning, he said: "I thought they were all coming for me. They were all here for Pat."

A kid makes 173 and gets muzzled. The captain gets a room. Cummins took exactly one cricket-related question, about young fast bowler Mahli Beardman, who took six wickets on ODI debut against England.

The Australian published footage of Cummins and Becky in a heated conversation outside their Sydney home, after arriving there by chance, according to the report. The paper did not purchase the images. Cummins said Becky was also angry with Khawaja, and joked he'd put the wrong bin out in response to suggestions they'd been arguing.

What They're Calling "Culture"

Cummins unequivocally denied any knowledge of a plot to use sandpaper on the ball. He contacted former teammates to check their versions of events. He said he said so when he couldn't remember something. And he offered this assessment of the 2018 environment: "I think we had a win-at-all-costs mentality, had an ugly underbelly, and there were too many silos within the team. They were traits that I hope that everyone's seen and I tried very hard to eradicate for the last six years as captain."

Read that again. A win-at-all-costs mentality, an ugly underbelly, silos. That's the institution describing itself. Cummins also described the "dark arts" he'd heard about: "I'd heard zippers. I'd heard superglue on wicketkeepers' gloves. I'd heard layers and layers of nail polish. I bite my fingers, so I'd be terrible. Obviously, Murray Mints is one, too. I'd heard ... from a long time ago that sandpaper was actually taped in between fingers. These are all discussions that I'm sure every suburban change-room has." He drew a line between legally maintaining a ball and illegally altering it, and said Australia used sandpaper in training to rough up balls and practise facing reverse swing.

Dueling Versions, No Referee

Khawaja and David Warner dispute the account put forward by Cummins and the bowlers. Cummins said international dressing rooms are big places, and conversations happen between different groups of players, often without everyone knowing what was said. He said Khawaja never asked him for his version in 2018. Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Tim Paine and Brad Haddin, an assistant coach at the time and now coach of NSW, have yet to address the latest allegations in detail. Warner continued challenging the established account during Fox Cricket's coverage.

Khawaja went on the ABC's 7.30, where Sarah Ferguson pressed him on details, and is due on The Grade Cricketer podcast later this week. He said his words no longer affected the Australian team now that he'd retired.

A Sydney Morning Herald poll with more than 18,000 respondents found 46 per cent believe "everyone" knew about the sandpaper in South Africa, 44 per cent don't think every Australian player knew, and 10 per cent are undecided. The public is left to adjudicate a dispute among employees of the same governing body, each protecting a version of the story.

After the press conference, Cummins bowled a few balls alongside Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, then bought a sandwich at the public cafe and posed for photos with fans. Four years ago, after Justin Langer's departure as coach amid player unrest, he told past players: "just as you have always stuck up for your mates, I'm sticking up for mine." Mates, in this game, get stuck up for. Everyone else gets a car park problem.